Has anyone here entered a VST test? After watching dog after dog fail today, I'm amazed any dog passes this test. Most dogs failed at the first turn and a few even managed to fail at the start. My first dog was a german shepherd search and rescue dog and they managed to fail my track before the first turn. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to wait years to actually get your name drawn for one of these tests, driving over 10 hours for the test, paying an entry fee of $100 and then failing within the first few minutes of the test

It just totally amazed me how these highly experienced search and rescue dogs could fail a test so quickly. One of the judges who has been judging for over 10 yrs has never had anyone pass the test (only a little over 100 dogs have passed the test in the last 10 years).

maberi wrote:It just totally amazed me how these highly experienced search and rescue dogs could fail a test so quickly. One of the judges who has been judging for over 10 yrs has never had anyone pass the test (only a little over 100 dogs have passed the test in the last 10 years).

It's very tough, and I'm surprised that it's kept around when it's that tough...I mean, I understand why it's there...

However, I also recognize that SAR dogs don't necessarily need to do turn by turn tracking...Sacha often combined air scenting with footstep tracking...also, in SAR sometimes it's a matter of life and death, where time is of the essence...it takes much longer to get from A to B using a 90 degree angle compared to a diagonal...

Agreed, I have looked high and far for a breakdown like this but haven't been able to find one. The head judge was Ed Presnall who has titled in VST 5 and seems to specialize in field spaniels (not what you would initially think of as the ultimate tracking dog).

After watching today I honestly think it mostly lies in the hands of the handler and not so much the dog. So many people today second guessed their dogs and failed because of it.

katiek0417 wrote:

iluvk9 wrote:Do you think Bloodhounds are better at it?

I don't know...I'd like to see a breakdown of the breeds who have passed the test...I know you can teach most any breed to track...depending on how hard you work at it...

maberi wrote:Agreed, I have looked high and far for a breakdown like this but haven't been able to find one. The head judge was Ed Presnall who has titled in VST 5 and seems to specialize in field spaniels (not what you would initially think of as the ultimate tracking dog).

After watching today I honestly think it mostly lies in the hands of the handler and not so much the dog. So many people today second guessed their dogs and failed because of it.

Interesting you say this...during training, I was often told to trust my dog...they give very subtle signs in tracking about which way they will turn, etc...

Yeah, I spent quite a bit of time standing next to the judges and it was AMAZING how quickly Ed could pick up on each dogs tracking style and immediately indentify when they were giving cues as to when they lost and found the track. I think the hardest part of tracking is learning to read your dog

maberi wrote:Yeah, I spent quite a bit of time standing next to the judges and it was AMAZING how quickly Ed could pick up on each dogs tracking style and immediately indentify when they were giving cues as to when they lost and found the track. I think the hardest part of tracking is learning to read your dog